January 19, 2021

Trump shares edited image of Medal of Honor hero replaced with a dog

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Somehow the Republican Party still thinks it can convince voters that GOP officials support the U.S. military unequivocally despite the fact that the party’s leader is a draft-dodging loudmouth who attacks Gold Star families and mocks POWs.

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Trump’s habitual disrespect for the armed forces—from his repeated smears of the intelligence community to the barrage of insults he’s unloaded on the generals who have gently critiqued his administration—has become a defining part of his presidency.  Never again can the Republican Party claim with a straight face to be the party of national security.

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Earlier today, Trump engaged in some distasteful Twitter behavior that is already stoking angry backlash. The commander-in-chief shared an edited image of himself placing a medal around the neck of the (admittedly heroic) military dog who suffered an injury during the raid in Syria which ended in the death of the brutal ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. As The New York Times points out though, the original image was of Trump awarding to the Medal of Honor to retired Army medic James C. McCloughan, who was given the prestigious award for saving numerous lives during the Vietnam War.

Niraj Chokshi and Karen Zraick write in the Times:

“Mr. McCloughan was awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest honor for valor in combat, in July 2017. He is credited with saving the lives of company members during a battle on Nui Yon Hill in 1969 near the city of Tam Kỳ, Vietnam. He was struck by shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade and small-arms fire, but repeatedly ran onto the battlefield to rescue his comrades.”

While such an edited image might be considered harmless if shared by a random Twitter user, it’s unacceptable behavior for the President of the United States. He should not be making light of McCloughan’s service and sacrifice, even in an oblique way such as this. The Medal of Honor is a sacred military decoration steeped in history and the spilled blood of patriots and the president should at all times treat it with the somber respect it deserves.

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Donald Trump has no sense of propriety and no real sense of appreciation for how much the men and women in our military give psychologically, emotionally, and physically to safeguard our Republic. In the grand scheme of his presidency, this is one of the minor offenses to be sure, but should still be called out as such. This kind of thing should be beneath the dignity of the Oval Office, but as Trump has shown time and time again, he doesn’t believe in dignity at all.

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Twitter responses ranged from disgust to mockery, but the consensus is clearly that Trump stepped over a line with his tweet.

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Natalie Dickinson

Natalie is a staff writer for the Washington Press. She graduated from Oberlin College in 2010 and has been freelance blogging and writing for progressive outlets ever since.

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